AppLift, Newzoo find tablet gaming on the rise, will grow to $10 billion by 2016

According to a new joint market analysis effort by marketing platform AppLift and market research firm Newzoo, the mobile games market will grow 27.3 percent annually to double in 2016, reaching a $23.9 billion level globally. According to the pair’s findings, tablet revenue will increase by 400 percent in that time period to $10 billion, with tablet revenue accounting for 47.6 percent of the overall mobile games revenue.

In the United States, over 90 percent of revenue in iOS games comes from in-app purchases. According to the research, there are 146 million mobile game players in the US, with the average gamer spending $3.87 per month on games.

Users in the Asia Pacific region spend less per gamer, at $2.86 per month, but that region is still the biggest mobile games market in the world due to its 412 million mobile players. The Asia Pacific market will see revenue of $5.9 billion in 2013, compared to $3 billion in the US.

Across all markets, 368 million mobile gamers (38 percent of all mobile gamers) spend an average of $2.78 on or within mobile games each month. By 2016, that number is expected to climb to $3.07, with paying mobile gamers accounting for 50 percent of the overall pool.

The highest monthly spend is found in Western Europe, where 43 million of the region’s 129 million mobile gamers spend $4.40, on average, each month on or in mobile games. The Western Europe, North American and Asia Pacific markets are expected to remain the strongest and most appealing markets for publishers going forward.

“The mobile games market has been growing extremely fast and is rapidly changing across different regions,” says Kaya Taner, CEO and Co-Founder of AppLift. “Data is key to understand these market developments. Newzoo’s market stats, combined with the mobile games marketing insights AppLift gained from working with over 100 partners enable game publishers to make informed decisions.”

AppLift and Newzoo have released an infographic containing additional findings and stats, which is included in full below (click to view larger).